Editing Virgil (section)

== Legacy and reception ==

=== Antiquity ===
[[File:RomanVirgilFolio014rVergilPortrait.jpg|thumb|A 5th-century portrait of Virgil from the [[Vergilius Romanus]]]]

The works of Virgil almost from the moment of their publication revolutionized [[Latin poetry]]. The ''Eclogues'', ''Georgics'', and above all the ''Aeneid'' became standard texts in school curricula with which all educated Romans were familiar. Poets following Virgil often refer intertextually to his works to generate meaning in their own poetry. The Augustan poet [[Ovid]] parodies the opening lines of the ''Aeneid'' in ''[[Amores (Ovid)|Amores]]'' 1.1.1–2, and his summary of the Aeneas story in Book 14 of the ''[[Metamorphoses]]'', the so-called "mini-Aeneid", has been viewed as a particularly important example of post-Virgilian response to the epic genre. [[Lucan]]'s epic, the ''[[Pharsalia|Bellum Civile]]'', has been considered an anti-Virgilian epic, disposing of the divine mechanism, treating historical events, and diverging from Virgilian epic practice. The Flavian-era poet [[Statius]] in his 12-book epic ''Thebaid'' engages closely with the poetry of Virgil; in his epilogue he advises his poem not to "rival the divine ''Aeneid'', but follow afar and ever venerate its footsteps."<ref>Theb.12.816–817</ref> Virgil finds one of his most ardent admirers in [[Silius Italicus]]. With almost every line of his epic ''[[Punica (poem)|Punica]]'', Silius references Virgil.

Partially as a result of his so-called "Messianic" [[Eclogue 4|Fourth Eclogue]]{{snd}}widely interpreted later to have predicted the [[Nativity of Jesus|birth of Jesus Christ]]{{snd}}Virgil was in later antiquity imputed to have the magical abilities of a seer; the ''[[Sortes Vergilianae]]'', the process of using Virgil's poetry as a tool of divination, is found in the time of [[Hadrian]], and continued into the Middle Ages. In a similar vein Macrobius in the ''[[Macrobius#Saturnalia|Saturnalia]]'' credits the work of Virgil as the embodiment of human knowledge and experience, mirroring the Greek conception of Homer.<ref name="Fowler, pg.1603" />{{Rp|1603}} Virgil also found commentators in antiquity. [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], a commentator of the 4th century AD, based his work on the commentary of [[Aelius Donatus|Donatus]]. Servius's commentary provides us with a great deal of information about Virgil's life, sources, and references; however, many modern scholars find the variable quality of his work and the often simplistic interpretations frustrating.

=== Late antiquity ===

[[File:Vergil tomb inscription.jpg|alt=The verse inscription at Virgil's tomb.|thumb|The verse inscription at Virgil's tomb was supposedly composed by the poet himself: ''Mantua me genuit, Calabri rapuere, tenet nunc Parthenope. Cecini pascua, rura, duces.'' ("[[Mantua]] gave me life, the [[Salento|Calabrians]] took it away, [[Naples]] holds me now; I sang of pastures, farms, and commanders" [transl. [[Bernard Knox]]])]]
Even as the Western Roman Empire collapsed, literate men acknowledged that Virgil was a master poet – [[Augustine of Hippo|Saint Augustine]], for example, confessing how he had wept at reading the death of Dido.<ref>K. W. Gransden, ''Virgil: The Aeneid'' (Cambridge 1990), p. 105.</ref> The best-known surviving manuscripts of Virgil's works include manuscripts from late antiquity such as the ''[[Vergilius Augusteus]]'', the ''[[Vergilius Vaticanus]]'' and the ''[[Vergilius Romanus]]''.

=== Middle Ages ===
[[Gregory of Tours]] read Virgil, whom he quotes in several places, along with some other Latin poets, though he cautions that "we ought not to relate their lying fables, lest we fall under sentence of eternal death".<ref>{{cite book|author=Gregory of Tours|year=1916|title=The History of the Franks|translator-first=E.|translator-last=Brehaut|location=New York|publisher=Columbia University Press|oclc=560532077|page=xiii}}</ref> In the [[Renaissance of the 12th century]], [[Alexander Neckham]] placed the "divine" ''Aeneid'' on his standard arts curriculum,<ref>[[Helen Waddell]], ''The Wandering Scholars'' (Fontana 1968), p. 19.</ref> and Dido became the romantic heroine of the age.<ref>Waddell, pp. 22–3.</ref> Monks like [[Maiolus of Cluny]] might repudiate what they called "the luxurious eloquence of Virgil",<ref>Waddell, p. 101.</ref> but they could not deny the power of his appeal.

==== Dante's ''Divine Comedy'' ====
[[File:Lucas van Leyden 034.jpg|thumb|''Virgil in His Basket'', [[Lucas van Leyden]], 1525]]
[[Dante Alighieri|Dante]] presents Virgil as his guide through [[Inferno (Dante)|Hell]] and the greater part of [[Purgatorio|Purgatory]] in the ''[[Divine Comedy]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Divine Comedy (The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso)|last=Alighieri|first=Dante|publisher=Berkley|year=2003|isbn=978-0451208637|location=New York}}</ref> Dante also mentions Virgil in ''[[De vulgari eloquentia]]'', as one of the four ''regulati poetae'' along with [[Ovid]], [[Marcus Annaeus Lucanus|Lucan]] and [[Statius]] (ii, vi, 7).

=== Renaissance and early modernity ===
The Renaissance saw a number of authors inspired to write epic in Virgil's wake: [[Edmund Spenser]] called himself the English Virgil; ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' was influenced by the example of the ''Aeneid''; and later artists influenced by Virgil include [[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz]] and [[Hermann Broch]].<ref>Gransden, pp. 108–111.</ref>

===Legends===
The legend of "Virgil in his basket" arose in the [[Middle Ages]], and is often seen in art and mentioned in literature as part of the [[Power of Women]] [[literary topos]], demonstrating the disruptive force of female attractiveness on men. In this story Virgil became enamoured of a beautiful woman, sometimes described as the emperor's daughter or mistress and called Lucretia. She played him along and agreed to an assignation at her house, which he was to sneak into at night by climbing into a large basket let down from a window. When he did so he was hoisted only halfway up the wall and then left trapped there into the next day, exposed to public ridicule. The story paralleled that of [[Tale of Phyllis and Aristotle|Phyllis riding Aristotle]]. Among other artists depicting the scene, [[Lucas van Leyden]] made a [[woodcut]] and later an [[engraving]].<ref>[[James Snyder (art historian)|Snyder, James]]. 1985. ''Northern Renaissance Art''. US: [[Abrams Books|Harry N. Abrams]], {{ISBN|0136235964}}. pp. 461–62.</ref>

In the Middle Ages, Virgil's reputation was such that it inspired legends associating him with magic and prophecy. From at least the 3rd century, Christian thinkers interpreted [[Eclogue 4|''Eclogue'' 4]], which describes the birth of a boy ushering in a golden age, as a prediction of [[Nativity of Jesus|Jesus's birth]]. In consequence, Virgil came to be seen on a similar level to the [[Bible prophecy|Hebrew prophets of the Bible]] as one who had heralded Christianity.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ziolkowski|first1=Jan M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MpsPueOp8cUC|title=The Virgilian Tradition: The First Fifteen Hundred Years|last2=Putnam|first2=Michael C. J.|date=2008|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0300108224|pages=xxxiv-xxxv|access-date=11 November 2013}}</ref> Relatedly, ''[[The Jewish Encyclopedia]]'' argues that medieval legends about the [[golem]] may have been inspired by Virgilian legends about the poet's apocryphal power to bring inanimate objects to life.<ref>{{Jewish Encyclopedia |no-prescript=1 |title=Golem}}</ref>

Possibly as early as the second century AD, Virgil's works were seen as having magical properties and were used for [[divination]]. In what became known as the ''[[Sortes Vergilianae]]'' ("Virgilian Lots"), passages would be selected at random and interpreted to answer questions.<ref name=Ziolkowskixxxiv>{{cite book|last1=Ziolkowski|first1=Jan M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MpsPueOp8cUC|title=The Virgilian Tradition: The First Fifteen Hundred Years|last2=Putnam|first2=Michael C. J.|date=2008|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0300108224|page=xxxiv|access-date=11 November 2013}}</ref> In the 12th century, starting around [[Naples]] but eventually spreading widely throughout Europe, a tradition developed in which Virgil was regarded as a great [[Magician (paranormal)|magician]]. Legends about Virgil and his magical powers remained popular for over two hundred years, arguably becoming as prominent as his writings themselves.<ref name=Ziolkowskixxxiv/> Virgil's legacy in medieval [[Wales]] was such that the Welsh version of his name, ''Fferyllt'' or ''Pheryllt'', became a generic term for magic-worker, and survives in the modern Welsh word for pharmacist, ''fferyllydd''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ziolkowski|first1=Jan M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MpsPueOp8cUC|title=The Virgilian Tradition: The First Fifteen Hundred Years|last2=Putnam|first2=Michael C. J.|date=2008|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0300108224|pages=101–102|access-date=11 November 2013}}</ref>